The present invention relates to an apparatus for cooling various types of heating sources in a vacuum such as cooling a wafer in a manufacturing process within a vacuum apparatus, cooling a motor for vacuum use, cooling other heating sources, cooling a shroud for a floating molecule trap, cooling a calculation circuit enclosed in a vacuum, and so on.
Conventionally, in, for example, a vacuum apparatus, a water-cooled pipe, a heat pipe or the like is normally used to cool a wafer used in a manufacturing process or a vacuum motor. Also, the calculation circuits of the conventional large-size computers are cooled with the use of liquid nitrogen without the enclosing thereof in a vacuum. The cooling apparatus in a conventional vacuum apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 5.
As shown in FIG. 5, a vacuum bulkhead 103 is mounted on the flange 102 of a chamber 101 with bolts, nuts (not shown), and an O ring 104 is interposed in its compressed condition between the flange 102 and the vacuum bulkhead 103, so as to seal the joint between them. The water cooling pipes 105, 106 are extended in an air tight condition into the vacuum bulkhead 103. On the other hand, a cooling block 107 having a cooling room is mounted on a vacuum motor (not shown) which is a heating source within the chamber 101. Flexible water cooling pipes 108, 109 are communicated with both side portions of the cooling block 107, and the respective flexible water cooling pipes 108, 109 have bellows 108a, 109a provided in their middle portions. The water cooling pipes 105, 106 and the flexible water-cooling pipes 108, 109 are respectively coupled within the chamber 101 by connectors 110, 111, with a sealing material (not shown) being interposed between the end faces of the water cooling pipes 105, 106 and the flexible water cooling pipes 108, 109.
The cooling water is circulated into the water cooling pipe 105, the flexible water cooling pipe 108, the cooling block 107, the flexible water cooling pipe 109, and the water cooling pipe 106, so as to cool the heating source through the cooling block 107.
However, with the construction of the conventional embodiment, the response speed of the cooling operation is poor and the connecting operation of the connectors 110, 111 is inconvenient. Also, when the heating source and the vacuum motor are movable, it is necessary to use the flexible water cooling pipes 108, 109, but cracks are caused in the bellows 108a, 109a by the stress, thermal influences in the manufacturing process for the wafer or the like, and also leakage is likely to be caused in the sealing material of the water cooling pipes 105, 106 and the flexible water cooling pipes 108, 109. When the water is leaked from the cracked portions or the connectors 110, 111, it pollutes the interior of the vacuum apparatus which may result in failure thereof. Also, when the calculation circuit of the large-size computer is cooled with the liquid nitrogen, the consumption amount of the liquid nitrogen increases and the scale of the facilities become large, so that smaller sizes cannot be obtained and costs become higher.